JUNGLE 'DROMES

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 181, 2 August 1941, Page 7

JUNGLE 'DROMES

DEFENCE OF BURMA Maximum Protection Given Against Attack tT.P.A. and Brttli* WireK-ss. Rec. 2.30 p.m. LONDON. August 1. The Japanese occupation of IndoChina, which brings Japanese armed forces to the eastern frontiers of India, gives significance to the news that the R.A.F. in Burma has been strengthened by the arrival of considerable reinforcements, including American-built Brewster Buffalo multi-gun fighters, and that Burma, therefore, is now equipped for both offensive and defensive air action. During the past few months thousands of men and women have been constructing, in the jungle, aerodromes between the coast and the frontiers of China and Thailand, stretching from Lashio. in Upper Burma, to the Mergui Archipelago. in the south. These aerodromes are now completed. They are equipped with all-weather runways, suitable for the taking off of fully loaded heavy bombers. Plant for the maintenance and repair of aircraft has been provided. Pilots and ground crews live in comfortable quarters. and fuel, bombs and ammunition are stored to meet all possible needs. The aerodromes are so located that they give Burma the maximum protection against air and land attack from any quarter, and give the R.A.F. advance bases from which to operate bomber squadrons. They ensure greater mobility for the R.A.F. in the Far East Should the war spread to Malaya, Air Chief Marshal Sir Robert Brooke Popham will be in a position to move squadrons to Burma in a few hours and have forces located to the. best advantage. Buffalo aircraft, arriving across the Pacific in increasing numbers in the past few months, have enabled fighter squadrons, to be speedily formed. Pilots are all full of praise for the potential fighting qualities of these aircraft. One pilot, a member of a famous Spitfire squadron throughout the battle of Britain, said the Buffalo has amazing qualities of manoeuvrability, and combines high speed with a fast rate of climb, and, with multiple large calibre guns, is an aircraft to be feared.

A chain of aerodromes with squadrons of modern bombers and fighters sufficient to deal with any likely attack has been established from Lashio northward to Singapore across the Netherlands East Indies to Australia, says "The Times" correspondent at Singapore. The aerodromes are described as affording the maximum of protection for Burma against air or land attack from any quarter, also as advance bases from which the R.A.F. can launch bomber offensives.

In addition, the aerodromes provide the means of moving squadrons to and from Singapore and Malaya, especially for the reinforcing of the R.A.F. in the Far East from India or the Middle East.